Perugia trio are dismissed in Rome
ROME, Italy -- Perugia ended with only eight players after an ugly encounter at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday when 10-man hosts Lazio triumphed 3-1.
Souleymane Diamoutene, Giovanni Ignoffo, Marco Di Loreto were all red-carded for Perugia whose coach Serse Cosmi was also sent off.
AS Roma romped to a 4-0 win at Bologna to keep themselves within two points of leaders Juventus
Lazio's win will be remembered not for some excellent finishing but for the angry clashes that soured the final half hour.
Roberto Mancini's side went ahead through Dejan Stankovic just before the break but winless Perugia fought back with an excellent strike from Fabio Grosso in the 62nd minute.
That should have set up a rousing finale but instead the match descended into chaos.
First Diamoutene was sent off by referee Cosimo Bolognino for a late challenge on Lazio's Giuseppe Favalli in the 71st minute.
Both teams were involved in clashes in the 84th minute with Ignoffo and Lazio's Sergio Conceicao dismissed after the fracas.
Three minutes later Bernardo Corradi put Lazio ahead with a superbly struck shot from the edge of the area.
There was more off-the-ball action as players and team officials faced off to each other on the edge of the field and Perugia coach Serse Cosmi was sent off.
In stoppage time Perugia's Marco di Loreto became the fourth player to see red after a wild challenge.
Simone Inzaghi wrapped up the action with a third goal for Lazio thanks to a powerful strike from 20 meters.
Goals from Francesco Totti, Vincenzo Montella and Christian Panucci gave Fabio Capello's Roma a 3-0 lead at the break against Bologna.
Antonio Cassano added the fourth shortly after the restart.
Andrei Shevchenko celebrated his 100th goal for European champions AC Milan who are third following a 2-0 win at Chievo.
He headed in a Gennaro Gattuso cross on the stroke of half-time and added a second after 50 minutes after a pass from Rui Costa.
Roma were at their devastating best against a Bologna side who are now facing the prospect of a fight against relegation.
Totti opened the scoring with a superb volley in the 15th minute before Montella made it two, tapping home after keeper Gianluca Pagliuca had parried a shot from Cassano.
It was not a fortunate afternoon for Pagliuca who again did well to keep out a header from Panucci but the Italy defender reacted quickly to hammer the ball home.
Cassano, who recently made his debut for Italy, wrapped up the win with a fine solo effort four minutes after the restart.
Empoli pulled off a 1-0 win at home to Parma with an injury time winner from Pasquale Foggia. It was their first success of the season.
